Marcus Schrenker claims wife involved in his crimes

INDIANAPOLIS | Former money manager Marcus Schrenker, a Merrillville native who tried to fake his own death and later was convicted of securities fraud, told an Indianapolis television station Monday his wife, Michelle, was an active participant in his crimes. 

"You were the chief financial officer, you were my wife, you were spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, you were living the good life," Schrenker said. "And all of a sudden you're saying, 'I didn't know anything about it.' "

Schrenker said Michelle also helped arrange the scheme to fake Marcus' death by jumping out of an airplane and letting the plane fly on until it crashed.

"We were talking about everything that needed to be done when they declared me dead: how to file an insurance claim, how to deal with aircraft insurance, the letters to give to the children," Schrenker said. "Michelle knew everything that was going to happen that night."

Hamilton County prosecutors have declined to press charges against Michelle Schrenker. In a statement to WTHR-TV, which interviewed Marcus Schrenker in state prison, Michelle said Marcus is not to be believed.

"There is no validity to anything this man has to say," she said.

Marcus Schrenker, 40, a 1989 Merrillville High School graduate, was sentenced last year to 10 years in prison for pocketing money clients gave him to invest. With good behavior he could be released in 2014, but then must serve four years in federal prison for intentionally crashing his airplane.

Schrenker said most of his problems were caused by an addiction to painkillers, and prison has forced him to get sober.